2002-2005. Southwest Ohio.
- Saigon Dragon, on Route 4 in Fairfield. Their Pho cures what ails you. If I felt a bug coming on, straight to Saigon Dragon for a bowl of pho--beef broth spiced with chili paste and fish sauce, full of noodles and served with heaping plate of sprouts, cilantro, thai chilis, and basil.
- Santo Domingo, the corner of Pershing and Third, on the eastside of Hamilton. Less than a mile north of Miami U's Hamilton campus. An odd combination of Carribean food and soul food and pseduo-creole. Ox tails, peppered steak, dirty rice, fried plantains. Everything you order comes with a big mound of fried onions. I always wanted to take job candidates there, because it was one of the only interesting places to eat in Hamilton, but I was always overruled based on the place's less-than-glitzy decor and fattening menu options.
- Anywhere but those awful Skyline Chilis where they muck up the chili with cinammon and cocoa.
- Tortilleria Jalisco, on Irvington in south Tucson. Nobody speaks English there, and you're never exactly sure what you'll get, not just because of my barely inteligible, midwestern-accented version of Spanish, but also because they use whatever ingredients they have. Sometimes the tacos have cilantro on them, sometimes a little bit of cabbage, etc. But they always serve a little plate of radishes and lime wedges with the tacos, just like they do south of the border. And bottles of red Fanta from Mexico. Best tortillas in Tucson, too.
- Sausage Deli, Grant and Euclid, a block from my Los Altos apartment, one mile north of the U of A. I used to hop off the bus one stop early on the way home from school to go in and get huge vegetarian or Italian subs. They serve at least fifty kinds of beer--all bottles, all displayed on cheap shelving around the perimter of the shop. I remember getting take-out there the night U of D beat UCLA in the first round of the NCAAs in 1999.
- El Torero, can't remember which road it's on, but in the heart of south Tucson, about five or six blocks south of 22nd St. A huge, tacky marlin hanging on the wall. The tacos come with cotijo cheese and strips of bistec (no ground beef there!). We took Robert Connors there when he came to speak to us TAs in probably early 2000. Used to go there for lunch and spend maybe $6 including tip.
- Little Pepino's. Where 304 dead-ends into 422, Girard. Little family-run Italian place. Wedding soup, gnocchi, strombolis. They used to do these $4 take-out box lunches, including one with a sandwich with fried bologna and greens, served on crusty bread with sesame seeds. Second best place to get Italian food in Youngstown...
- Which leads to the BEST place for Italian food in late 90s Y'town. My grandma D's apartment, off of my parents' house. I moved back home after college in 1996 to work on my master's and teach at YSU, about a year after my grandparents sold their house and also moved there. Seems like everyday my grandma would make what she called "pizza"--actually just homemade bread dough brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with a little garlic and a lot of black pepper. Also "greens and beans" on a regular basis: escarole or whatever greens were around, great northern beans, diced bits of celery and potato and onion and garlic, all in chicken stock and served with parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes.
- Inner Circle Pizza, Lincoln Avenue, on the YSU campus. Definitely the white pizza, and 3-4 "tall" (these skinny 22-0z. glasses they have) beers. Best post-TA practicum lunch ever. Every Wednesday during the 96-97 school year. Alright, all three Youngstown places are Italian. What can I say? It's Youngstown.
1 comment:
Ha!
Great idea. Maybe I'll do one later.
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